Matt Carpenter shifts all over the Marlins defense -- bunting for a standup double!

shifts!

good use of the vernacular



but i wish he would done it in the nth inning of a no hitter

Can someone post the Ray’s 4-man OF against Gleyber Torres? Fun stat, last year, he grounded out to 2B twice all season! So Cash said “you know what? We don’t need a 2nd baseman”, and stuck him in RCF

Posted by d_rock97 on 6/18/2019 11:29:00 AM (view original):
Can someone post the Ray’s 4-man OF against Gleyber Torres? Fun stat, last year, he grounded out to 2B twice all season! So Cash said “you know what? We don’t need a 2nd baseman”, and stuck him in RCF

the Yankees' announcers likened it to softball - which made me wonder, why go with 4 OFs across, and not the normal 3 with a rover, like in softball? I have absolutely no data to back this up, but watching Torres every night, he hits more hard liners up the middle than he does ropes into either gap or down the RF line...anything to the opposite way has a lot of hang time so a normal RF should suffice

This was also pretty interesting - https://blogs.fangraphs.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-intentional-balk/

Jansen balks a runner from 2nd to 3rd with a two-run lead. The win probability stays the same (that first run means effectively nothing), and it takes away the minimal chance that the runner on 2nd would steal signs, giving a further advantage to the batter. Logic seems sound to me...

My question is, why not just go from the full wind up with either a runner on 2nd or 3rd if the run means nothing? or why not just balk him all the way home and go with the full windup with no distractions?

Max Scherzer broke his nose recently on a batting practice bunt -- then went out the next day and pitched 7 shutout innings with 10 K's to get the win. His career record is now 165-87, exactly the same as Sandy Koufax's.

In other somewhat Koufax-related news, the relief pitcher Sandy dubbed "The Vulture" over half a century ago (for his habit of swooping into games in the later innings to steal wins) has been hired by the New York Mets to be their new pitching coach. No kidding. Phil Regan is 82 years old. He once pitched to Ted Williams in an MLB game. Eisenhower was then the US president, and everyone tied an onion to their belt, which was the style at that time.

Big yellow ones.

Hefty fellas gettin' it done on defense!

Willians Astudillo making it look easy

Vladdy to Rowdy (then back to some regular-weight pitcher covering third)

Pedro Strop on Yasiel Puig:

"I told him, 'Why are you talking?'" Strop said. "'You have a chance to do whatever you need to do on the mound. Now you're just screaming.'

"It's not a secret he's stupid. He's stupid as f---. I have nothing against him, but he's stupid. There's no doubt about it."

Love the "I have nothing against him" part.

Video of both Strop's comments and the HBP.

A couple of shortstops doing their thing:

A. Simmons

F. Lindor

beautiful. well, the f lindor

the a simmons competent. what i expect of a SS and it drives me nuts when they can't make that play

I think it was a little better than "competent" although Simmons is so talented he made it look easy. Maybe you're downgrading it because the announcer went with the lazy Jeter comparison?

sound was off my friend

i expect guys to be able to go to their right deep in the hole and throw it cross body to first

its what makes a SS

Outfielders edition!

Aaron Hicks ends a wild one with a diving catch.

Kole Calhoun (best cowboy name in baseball, tied with Chance Sisco) ends one with a rocket home.

Mike Trout guns down another Dodger earlier in the same game.

Orioles OF Stevie Wilkerson nailing down a 1-2-3 save last night vs. the Angels.

The first save by a position player in MLB history.